It's one of the paradoxes of art that even the most famous and revered paintings are not especially photogenic. Indeed, few online archives of historically significant paintings, even those from major museums, manage to do justice to their collections online.

In fact most major gallery websites are structured like provincial community newsletters - all shrimpy thumbnails and stiff scholarly catalogues, with emphasis on facts, dimensions, materials and provenance. Although websites have to be informative for researchers and students, those visitors unable to visit the originals are generally after more than just a hint of the images' majesty.

Anyone viewing art online knows that the aesthetic or emotional engagement they get from seeing a painting in reproduction is as inaccurate as creating a picture of a crime purely from hearsay, or as watered-down as reading a great work of fiction in the Cliff Notes version. So it's great to come across the website of Manhattan's Neue Galerie which is a distinguished exception.

The gallery - devoted to early 20th-century German and Austrian art and design - elegantly combines major works by artists such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka with decorative arts by designers including Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, and Dagobert Peche. It's one of New York's most cherished art sanctuaries.

Since so many small museums that function beautifully in the flesh have cold and unappealing online presences, the easy, elegant style of the Neue Gallery site is an especially fine role model for other institutions seeking to showcase their historic collections.

Unlike its contemporaries, the Neue Galerie's site design is as frank and refined as the work in the collection. For example, a thick grey, black, white and navy blue border framing the centre images adds understated support to a gorgeous gilded Klimt and a sharp, angular Schiele. By clicking on the details stacked alongside the margin, where the main image is presented, a flattering-sized image shows up in the frame. Underneath, a discreet box invites viewers to click for more text, or to hide the caption and just focus on the painting.

In short, like an attractive art survey, the Neue Galerie site does not try to rival the experience of seeing the originals first-hand and in context. Instead, it is its own handsome and enticing visual experience that's as slinky, chic and sharp as the era it represents.

So far, the Neue Galerie easily trumps every other website for historically significant art I've seen, but I could be wrong... Which other museums or galleries have sites that make their collections shine?